No Labels: Partisan Paralysis Hinders U.S. Competitiveness

How much damage does Washington’s dysfunction do to America’s ability to compete in a global economy?

That’s one of the questions being put on the table Tuesday by No Labels, an organization of Democrats, Republicans and independents dedicated to the not-so-shocking idea that political leaders ought to start talking across the political divide once again.

As noted in today’s Capital Journal column, No Labels is presenting a new book that lays out the four big goals it thinks the country’s political leadership, regardless of party, ought to rally around: creating 25 million jobs over the next 10 years, balancing the federal budget by 2030, making America energy independent by 2035, and making Social Security and Medicare secure for another 75 years.

Underlying those goals in the No Labels presentation is a message that the partisan paralysis now plaguing Washington isn’t simply frustrating on the domestic level, but also effectively putting the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage internationally.

Michael E. Porter, head of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Harvard Business School, contributes an essay to the No Labels book in which he asserts the need for not just a competitive economy but a national strategy to achieve one by. For example, he says, that calls for dealing with budget deficits, improving job training and taking full advantage of the brightening American energy picture.

Other nations, he maintains, are doing such things and doing them better than is the U.S. Denmark “has gone through a process of national strategic thinking involving its political, business, and labor leaders” and as a result has performed better than other European nations economically. In South Korea, “leaders have been very strategic about the steps required to move the country to a higher level of skill and technology.”

And in an interview, former Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, one of the two political figures leading No Labels (the other being Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia), points to Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto as a leader who has worked with groups across the political spectrum to reform the nation’s financial and economic system to set it up for growth.

“Who would ever have guessed we’d be looking to Mexico for guidance?” asks Mr. Huntsman.

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From Washington in today’s Wall Street Journal:Congress unveils a budget deal, Obamacare numbers show a pool skewing older, and a retired general doles out advice to disheartened veterans. Also in the news, the Supreme Court looks to rein in recess appointments, and the Justice Department charges three more for manipulating Libor.

Shutting down the government? So 2013. The federal government is starting the new year off with a bang, by remaining open—at least for the first two-thirds of the year. House and Senate negotiators unveiled a $1.012 trillion budget bill to fund the government for the next 8½ months, indicating that Congress may have learned its lesson from October’s 16-day shutdown. The deliberately uncontroversial bill restores some previously cut funding to domestic programs, while keeping spending lower than when President Barack Obama first took office. And that Obamacare funding that proved so tricky for Republicans to swallow last time around? It’s frozen, but not eliminated. Janet Hook reports.

And speaking of Obamacare: New numbers released by the administration show that one-third of enrollees in new insurance marketplaces are 55 or older, making the pool older than insurers would need to keep premiums at their current levels. Though the law is structured to withstand an older enrollee pool in 2014, its success depends on enrolling a significant portion—ideally around 40%—of “young invincibles.” Louise Radnofsky and Christopher Weaver explain what these numbers mean for the law’s success.

Retired Army Gen. George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq from 2004 to 2007, offered advice to veterans frustrated by militants’ takeover of Fallujah: stay patient. Veterans who fought in the U.S.’s two battles in Fallujah have expressed deep frustration that the Iraqi government seems to have squandered an opportunity for stability. But Gen. Casey, in his first interview since the start of the crisis, said a continued U.S. presence in the area would not have helped. Stability, he said, can only come through elections that bring effective leaders to power. Julian E. Barnes reports.

On the subject of power, the president needs less of it—or so says the Supreme Court, which sought to rein in the president’s authority to make “recess appointments” when the Senate is not in session. Justices said the practice has morphed into a weapon to be wielded in power struggles between Congress and the White House. Though the importance of recess appointments has diminished since the Senate’s Democratic majority reduced the threshold to stop filibusters in November, it may rear its head again if Republicans gain a majority in the Senate.

And the U.S. Justice Department charged three former Rabobank Group traders with fraud in connection with their alleged manipulation of the key London interbank offered rate—more commonly known as Libor. The traders were charged on three counts, which, if they are convicted, could each carry a prison sentence of up to 30 years. With these charges, the number of people charged criminally in the U.S. as part of the investigation has now reached eight.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, hoping to move beyond the controversy over a politically inspired traffic jam, plans in his state of the state address Tuesday to propose a longer school day for New Jersey children and to renew a push for property tax relief. [Press of Atlantic City]

Albert Hunt writes that the announced retirement of Rep. George Miller is a reminder of the days when California’s congressional delegation was powerful enough to dominate Congress: “In the 1980s and ’90s, the California delegation included such heavyweights as Leon Panetta, who later served at the highest levels in two Democratic presidential administrations; Norman Mineta, who served as Secretary of Transportation in the George W. Bush administration; and Henry Waxman as well as Miller. Only Waxman will remain in Congress after Miller’s retirement.” [Bloomberg]

If a Republican president had overseen the flaw-ridden rollout of the Spanish-language version of Healthcare.gov, critics would have accused the administration of civil rights violations and “depraved indifference that bordered on ‘hatred,’” writes Charlie Cooke. He warns that the Obama administration must tread carefully or risk alienating a large portion of its base. [National Review]

Sen. Mark Warner is in weaker political shape than he may at first appear, and that he has reason to fear a potential challenge from former Republican national chairman Ed Gillespie, who would be a well-financed and capable challenger. [Washington Post]

Of the populist movements sweeping the country, Noam Schieber says Sen. Elizabeth Warren‘s agenda is the most sale-able politically, even though it is far more radical than others, because her desire to upend a system in which big banks and other interests have co-opted the apparatus of government plays directly to the source of today’s anti-government skepticism. [The New Republic]

Conservatives should welcome the debate over who is to blame for the stagnation of low-income America, writes James Capretta, but must make the case that helping families build better lives requires direct, hands-on intervention and cooperation among states, local governments and nonprofits. “The public understands that the answer is not more of the same.” [e21]

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